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And now, I'm done with 344pounds. I liked it when seemed like it was HIS story about HIS struggle with HIS set of problems with HIS body - when it seemed like he wasn't making universal statements and judgements about other people who he in fact knows little or nothing about. And that's no longer the case.

Thanks as always Melissa for the feedback. I'm telling you, that blog should be in everybody's feedreader.

Erica, please indulge me while I share my heartfelt opinion with you. If we all wrote off every writer the instant they said anything we disagreed with, we'd all end up a bunch of groupthinking sycophants. We'd all perpetually reinforce our own views. I try to embrace bloggers with whom I disagree--it teaches me more and it helps me firm up and flesh out my own views.

If you truly object to what Tyler wrote, don't give your power away to the perceived offense. Rather, use it as inspiration, and write a rebuttal on your own blog. That would add more value to the world than writing him off in a fit of pique.

Again, this is merely my opinion. Please take it for what it's worth--and with a few tons of sodium chloride.

I'm happy to indulge you. I find you thoughtful, in general. However, I'm not writing off 344pounds because Tyler said something with which I disagreed. I'm writing off 344pounds for several reasons. One of them is that I don't have a use for such a site, as I don't have any need for exercise tips or inspiration, nor diet advice (in the service of losing weight). I could stay for the 'man changes life' inspiration, but I honestly don't have as much a place for that in my life, either.

The other was because the article was offensive and ill-informed while masquerading as the opposite. By linking to the fat acceptance movement, it's explicit that he's aware of the movement and strongly implied that he's read at least something from the movement. There's no claim of ignorance of an alternative. But he links it in a manner that is utterly dismissive. He argues against a straw-man - that the sign at the fair is discriminatory (which some FA advocates may agree with, and others may not). Then he goes on to use a reductionist dismissal (if you disagree and think the world simply...), then you should join the naive folks in the FA movement (ad hominem).

I absolutely think that some fat people benefit in various ways from weight loss, when said weight loss is approached in a careful, sustainable way, and pursued for reasons meaningful and important to the individual. I think that weight loss predicated purely on aesthetics (particularly when they aren't the aesthetic of the individual), external shame, bullying, and hatred is horrifying. I think we get cause and effect all screwed up; I know at least as many fat people who gained weight due to health issues as fat people who have health issues due to being fat.

I think you can't tell by looking at a person what sort of circumstances - genetic, physical, mental, social, and so forth - made them the shape they are. I also think you can't tell what decisions have gone into their analysis of the costs and benefits of changing. So is it discrimination when some guy in the comments says that being fat is always a choice? That fat people are lazy? That fat people just need to eat less? Nah. But it is absolutely unthinking prejudice. It's dehumanizing. And ultimately, it neglects the number one ethical imperative regarding bodies that I hold most dear: that bodies belong to the people in them, and are no-one else's business.

Ultimately, the site takes an attitude that weight loss is good and fat is bad, period. It's an attitude that is prevalent enough that I don't need to read his particularly dismissive brand of it to understand the point of view without turning into a "groupthinking sycophant."

Thanks,Erica

PS: I recognize that you suggested I post this to my own blog. I did not do so for a number of reasons, but may well in the future, after some of those reasons are no longer relevant. In any case, I was not ignoring the suggestion. :)

I was going to leave a comment, but it ran over the allowed size. (Such is the danger of comment limitations: it leads to situations like this, in which it appears I'm writing off 344pounds just because he said something I didn't agree with.)

Suffice it to say, that's not the case. I tucked my comment (the original, too-long one) into a text editor, and if you'd like I'll email it.

Erica, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm always grateful when a reader will explain his or her views to me and to the many others who read Casual Kitchen.

PS: Your comment just inadvertantly went into Blogger's spam comment folder (sometimes longer comments get snagged but not always, oddly enough). But I just posted the full comment, so you should see it here going forward. If you want me to delete your other comment that follows, let me know.

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